Hello all

Hello all I recently decided to get into the world of RC helicopters this past week. I bought myself a mcx heli. I wanted a hobby for the girlfriend and I to share, yea she actually enjoys flying it I have many questions about rc helis and planes but I figured this model would be a good start especially with the winter months coming up. Might break down and get a second one so we can both have one. not sure yet tho

About me. Im an aircraft mechanic by trade, Work on Emberaer 170 and 190 series aircraft (if anyone cars to know about those tin cans ) Graduated college about two years ago. and need a hobby. Used to race rc cars back in high school but schedule wont allow me to race anymore as i usually work on every day that is a race day for local RC tracks.

Anyways thanks everyone i look forward to being part of this board.
Sean Scott

I started out on a Slightly larger coax heli and I was hooked. You are lucky to have the very best first requirement of a successful RC Heli hobby, some say a sim is most important... starting out with a good hobby grade heli (as the mcx most definitely is)... but having a girlfriend (or wife) who enjoys the hobby as well, or at least enjoys the fact that you derive fun out of it is absolutely a great start!

There is an entire forum here dedicated to coaxial helis like the Mcx here on RCGroups. You will find this is a very friendly and helpful place!

Thank you very much for your reply. I did some research on batteries as thats whats really killing me right now is batteries and a charger. (the included 1 battery charger seems to be taking longer and longer to charge as i believe the AA cells that are inside of it are dying)

So I rolled the dice on a small 4 pack of the Turnigy Nano-Tech 160 mah cells. http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-TURNIGY-NA...item27cb3817ab
I read some reviews and did some research and couldn't really find a clear cut answer on these cells. Did i do good or would i have been better to take the money and start a small fire? Ive heard some people say they were great and others say they were DOA or died after a few flights. My hypothesis is they are dying because of over discharging but back when I raced rc cars the race was well over before the lipo was down below 3v per cell. Anyone have a clear cut answer on these?

Probably next is a charger that's capable of handling them and some different batteries as Im now addicted to anything that flies. Saw some cool slow fliers that work off the same battery that is in the MCX. Also saw a spitfire Bind and fly that works of the same thing but i don't know i have the skill to fly something like that yet. im still not used to the cyclic controls being reversed on the heli when im nose in. so i freak out and let go of the controls.

Hey that's cool, my son works on those kind of jets too, and I used to do rally racing, but it's too expensive. I think you'll find with helicopters you get a lot more fun for your money. The mCX is a ton of fun but you'll want something more challenging soon...

If you think you're going to want quite few aircraft, do yourself a favor and pick up a good radio like a DX6i.

Hey that's cool, my son works on those kind of jets too, and I used to do rally racing, but it's too expensive. I think you'll find with helicopters you get a lot more fun for your money. The mCX is a ton of fun but you'll want something more challenging soon...

If you think you're going to want quite few aircraft, do yourself a favor and pick up a good radio like a DX6i.

Took the words out of my mouth hahaha.Plus with alot of these models you save about 30or so dollars by going BNF vs RTF so you would pay off the DX6i in less than 5 models or so depending what you buy. Im looking at getting a blade 120sr as my next heli. Figured I would try a single rotor fixed pitch. I want something bigger that can also go outside and have fun but may also be small enough for indoor flight. Im getting ok at flight time with the MCX but not great. im giving my hand at spot landings and still having trouble with the controlls being reversed when you are nose in but i can fly it around the house just fine.

Just out of curiosity jasmine your son doesn't happen to work for republic airways does he? If so we might even know each-other. Not a ton of people using Emberaer jets but there are a few. but republic loves them. (eg delta, frontier, us, united, ect. all republic holdings companies)

Thanks
Sean Scott

P.S. I posed in the battery thread about my batteries. the led on my charger just turns on and stays red. doesent matter if the battery is plugged in all day or not. So I might be in need of a new charger soon. Any good ideas? Im not sure I want to take a plunge on

Just out of curiosity jasmine your son doesn't happen to work for republic airways does he? If so we might even know each-other. Not a ton of people using Emberaer jets but there are a few. but republic loves them. (eg delta, frontier, us, united, ect. all republic holdings companies)

No he works for Great Lakes - the planes he works on seem to be Cessna and Beech, but I don't know, I'm not up on all those. I love airliners though - one of these days I'll fly one, but they are tricky to fly with their EDF engines and all. E-flite used to make a BnF airliner, but I don't think it was very popular, and I think it's been discontinued. It flew really nicely though...http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...df-arf-EFL7000

On your batteries, probably you just need to change the charger batteries - they don't last very long. If the voltage in the charger batteries doesn't exceed the max voltage of the Lipo, the light will stay on forever.

If you stay with the hobby you are going to eventually want a more robust charger anyhow. There are many different makes and models available and the price ranges vary almost as much as the prices on helis!

I bought the Thunder AC6 from xheli. It is currently around $40. It doesn't come with a lead for the eflite/blade pico batteries though so you would need something like this as well.

If you are looking for something just for the immediate need for charging your mcx batteries, wow hobbies (and I'm sure other shops) have something like this. IMHO the thunder charger (or something similar) would be a better value though if you think you will progress to larger helis that require multi-cell batteries like a 450 eventually.

Ok guys. My new batteries just arrived today. (turnigy nano tech 160. ) I tried to find some reviews on them but wasnt able to come up with much but hey 12 bucks for 4 thats not to bad. And should give me more stick time.

Next up will be a better charger. Leaning towards the I charger 106 Emailed Buddyep today to see if i can do an inperson purchess and pickup.

But here is my next question. How can i further hone my flying skills? I have been trying to spot land the heli on the side of the Box. I can land it just fine with the heli tale in but when its nose in or nose to my right i have some issues. But i figure I will overcome this. Are there any excersizes that can help a new guy cut his teeth?

I figure Ill fly the crap out of the MCX and cut my teeth on it since its so durable. And then I want to step up to a 120 sr for my next heli.

The only drills you can really do with the mCX are precision flying kind of drills... hang up a coat hanger and try to fly through it. Then try to fly through it backwards, sideways, etc... The mCX is good for learning orientation instincts, so do a lot of flying it sideways and nose-in.

Try flying a circle with the tail always pointing at yourself. Then yaw the heli 45 degrees and fly the same circle. Then 45 more degrees and fly the circle. You see where I am going. Eventually you will be nose in and going around in the circle. Of course you need to go in both directions around the circle. This exercise is great for building hand eye coordination. If possible laying the circle out on the floor helps. It gives you a track to follow and also can be used to judge your performance. You could even make a game out of it with your GF. Think of the possibilities there.